The seventh prince's palace is not far from Meixiang Pavilion. Walk slowly along the shore, turn around the overlapping rockeries, and then cross a winding path to reach it.
However, the red paint on the palace door gradually peeled off, and many door nails were missing. The walls looked even more dilapidated, giving off an air of decay.
Xia Yunhe stopped in front of the palace gate, raised his head and stared at the ancient lintel, and his eyes fell on the plaque that was as old as the palace.
Dark Fragrance Palace.
She murmured softly, frowning slightly.
Li Fushun's ears twitched, and he heard the confusion in her voice, so he explained carefully, "This was originally the residence of Mrs. Mei. Mrs. Mei died young and left it idle. After the seventh prince returned, His Majesty asked him to arrange it in the original place."
Xia Yunhe raised his finger and pointed at the plaque, "Mrs. Mei is the mother-in-law of the Seventh Prince?"
The fat waiter took a breath, hurriedly lowered the back of her hand, glanced around again, and when he saw no one was around, he whispered to her, "Master Xia, don't mention this."
He withdrew the hand holding Xia Yunhe's wrist, rolled up his sleeves, walked to the door, and pushed the heavy nanmu palace door hard. With a "creak", the palace door opened a crack.
Li Fushun wiped the sweat from his forehead, sighed, and smiled helplessly, "There are many taboos in the palace. It's normal for Mr. Xia not to know about them. There are many things that even the elderly may not know."
With that said, he squeezed through the narrow crack and entered the palace gate first.
Xia Yunhe followed closely and slid sideways into the palace.
What he saw was a desolate scene of wild grass. The wild grass half a man's height swallowed up the dilapidated houses. Xia Yunhe stopped in astonishment. Can people live in such a place?
Seeing that she was a little embarrassed, Li Fushun smiled and said, "Master Xia, you will get used to it after a few more visits."
The fat head eunuch pushed aside weeds for her, guiding her to carefully avoid the broken steps to avoid spraining her feet.
As he approached the eaves, he could faintly hear the lazy and smug voice of a chamberlain, "Your Majesty, Seventh Highness, please wait for a while. Mr. Xia will come when he is due. You are so naughty and inconsistent with etiquette."
Xia Yunhe coughed slightly, and the room fell into silence.
Then, after hearing a commotion, a servant in green clothes with thin eyebrows and a white face stumbled out on his knees. His left eye was black and blue. As soon as he saw the two of them, he fell on the ground and kowtowed.
Then he crawled to Li Fushun's feet and cried, "Grandpa makes the decision for the villain."
No longer arrogant in the room, the waiter with thin eyebrows and white face pressed his body to the ground and shook it into a sieve.
Li Fushun kicked him away, with a stern look on his face, "You don't care enough about your master, you deserve to be beaten. Why don't you get out."
The man responded repeatedly, arched his waist, hugged his chest, and walked away.
"snort!"
Xia Yunhe turned around after hearing the sound and saw that the seventh prince was wearing a moon-white cotton robe, which was obviously shorter at the wrists, and the clothes were tightly tied to his body. He couldn't help but frown slightly, and secretly rebuked the palace servants for taking advantage of the situation.
Xie Yi's eyes lit up when he saw her, and the sarcasm raised in the corners of his eyes instantly disappeared and changed into a well-behaved look.
He saluted her and quietly shouted, "Sir."
But the vibrato at the end of the words revealed that he was a little nervous.
A prince whose mother and concubine died young and who had been a hostage for a long time was not loved and valued by his father. He armed himself with sharp claws and faced the open and secret arrows in the palace. Xia Yunhe felt a pity in his heart.
Li Fushun lifted the high curtain and let the Seventh Prince and Xia Yunhe into the room.
The moment he entered, Xia Yunhe noticed that there was a tear on the seventh prince's left sleeve, and any movement would reveal deep red marks inside.
In the center of the room, there is an old purple wooden ivory-carved magpie announcing the spring screen. The gaps in the screen have not been cleaned for a long time and are covered with dirt. The original deep and soft wood has lost its luster, leaving only the dark depression, the magpie's eyes and the gems on the flower branches. Also missing.
Behind the screen fell a huanghuali open-carved lamp hanging chair. Large areas of paint on the chair peeled off, and a corner of the right leg of the backrest was knocked off. The gap was flat, and there were some scratches around it, revealing the original delicate texture of the wood.
The remaining furniture is nothing new and is as worn as the screens, lamps and hanging chairs.
However, a chair behind the screen was a bit out of place. Seeing the marks of the seventh prince's strangulation, Xia Yunhe secretly guessed that maybe he heard her coughing, and the waiter hurriedly put her down from the chair. As for where the rope that bound the person went, she looked around the room and saw no furniture such as a low cabinet. She suddenly recalled that the man was hunched over and hugging his chest, as if he was hiding something.
As soon as the man saw them, he kowtowed and begged for mercy. He hunched over to cover up, obviously feeling guilty.
He hadn't paid much attention before, but Xia Yunhe's spine felt chilly when he thought of this.
The seventh prince asked her to sit behind the desk and bowed respectfully. Li Fushun stood aside and watched. He had to report the situation to the emperor.
Seeing that the boy was calm, Xia Yunhe calmed down and grew up in intrigues and intrigues. To the seventh prince, these might not be anything to be alarmed about.
Without waiting for her to ask, the boy flattened the paper under the inkstone and presented it in front of her.
His name was crookedly written on the paper. The paper was full of wrinkles and there were a few fat gray footprints. Xia Yunhe turned a blind eye and picked up the rice paper and examined it carefully.
When appreciating calligraphy and painting, she likes to look at the dried ink marks the most. The secrets of calligraphy will appear as soon as the ink dries. The water evaporates, and the water stain mark left behind can tell whether it is dead ink or living ink, whether the ink has a consistent depth, distinct shades, and hidden changes.
The two words on the paper are crooked, like a mess, and seem clumsy. But if you look closely, you will find that the pen and ink are used very skillfully, and the connection between the strokes is also carefully designed.
In other words, Xie Yi took great pains to write the words in this ugly way.
Xia Yunhe put down the rice paper, rubbed his forehead softly, closed his eyes and meditated, sighing for Xie Yi's deep scheming, it was really difficult for His Highness the Seventh Prince to try so hard to hide his clumsiness.
Opening her eyes, with a sad eyebrow, she looked at Li Fushun and sighed deeply.
Li Fushun saw the words "Seventh Prince" like a stormy sea, and thought that Xia Yunhe was worried about the difficulty of teaching, so he smiled and comforted her, "Master Xia, take your time."
Xia Yunhe nodded, glanced at the torn sleeve hanging behind the young man's elbow, and deliberately asked him, "Your Highness, why are the tears in your clothes getting bigger and bigger?"
I saw Xie Yi biting his lips, looking at Li Fushun with tears in his eyes, tremblingly showing the marks of the strangulation to the chief eunuch.
Li Fushun's face turned pale and he shouted, "Oh my goodness, Your Highness, I will get you some Shuhen ointment right now."
After that, he lifted up his robe and ran out of Anxiang Palace.
After sending away the chief eunuch, Xie Yi wiped away his tears, showed two small tiger teeth, and smiled happily.
Xia Yunhe smoothed the paper and looked at Xie Yi, "Your Highness deliberately tore his clothes to expose the wound. Now he got what he wanted."
Seeing Xia Yunhe point out her little thoughts, Xie Yi bit her lower lip and asked her carefully, "Sir, are you angry?"
"There are many traps in the palace, please be careful, Your Highness."
Xia Yunhe rested his arms on the desk, revealing a small section of his thin white wrist. The knuckles on his palm were slender and the bones and flesh were well-proportioned.
Xie Yi stared at her fingers and asked thoughtfully, "Sir, won't you teach me how to write?"
Xia Yunhe glanced at Xie Yi and found that he was staring at his fingers in a daze, so he hid his palms and wondered if Xie Yi was reborn like himself, so he spoke carefully.
"I observe that Your Highness uses ink like a skilled hand. Just write carefully."
The seventh prince was surprised. He lowered his head and lowered his eyes. He suppressed the emotion in his eyes and said, "Sir, if you don't want to teach me, why did you choose me that day? If it was pity that I didn't have the protection of my mother's family, there was no need to do it."
Hearing what the Seventh Prince said, Xia Yunhe tapped the table with the index finger of her right hand. She was a little unsure whether Xie Yi had been reborn. She frowned slightly, her heart skipped a beat, and tried him again, saying, "Maybe I'm the same as Your Highness. .”
Same?
Xie Yi tilted his head and asked, "My mother and concubine left early? Sir, too?"
These words made Xia Yunhe choke.
Xie Yi didn't look at her anymore, lowered his eyes and said to himself, "My mother and concubine died young. I was away for six years, and my father didn't take him seriously when I came back. Sir, he could obviously choose the prince, the fourth emperor brother, or the fifth emperor brother, but he chose I, I’m really happy.”
"There is only one thing I want to ask for an answer from sir." Xie Yi raised his head, his childish eyes gone, and his voice was a little puzzled, "Before, in the mission, sir, he was dressed in red, high-spirited, and treated people with sincerity and enthusiasm. Why now? So distant?"
Xia Yunhe looked confused, but heard Xie Yi continue, "The day my husband took me back to China, I remembered him at a glance."
Xie Yi's words pulled her into distant memories. The Chu Kingdom had a narrow victory, and the Beirong offered to exchange hostages. As a deputy envoy, she accompanied the delegation to contact them. In order not to lose her grace, she rode on horseback to meet the Beirong generals despite her illness.
A young man in red clothes straddles a horse, trampling all the places where flowers and beasts wander.
No matter how high-spirited it is, it’s still yesterday’s scene.
"Your Highness," she started, but she didn't know how to say it. The seventh prince's mind was deeper than that of ordinary people. After a long silence, he said, "Today is different from the past. Your Highness is in a situation now. It is best to hide the weapon until the time comes. Only if Your Highness is more honest can I help you."
Xie Yi frowned, unable to understand her. He lowered his eyes and thought, and suddenly realized, "Sir, do you doubt my words?"
Xia Yunhe raised his eyes to look at him, only to hear Xie Yi say slowly, "My calligraphy was taught by Aunt Chunlan. She died in Beirong to protect me. She taught me that if I want to live, I have to hide my clumsiness. Today, my husband pointed it out. I believe that you, sir , so tell the truth.”
The young man's eyes were bright and firm, and in a daze, they overlapped with the face deep in his memory.
That was when she saw the Seventh Prince on the border school grounds. It was just a glimpse, but it was as strong as strong wine and was deeply engraved in her mind.
The young man has sharp sword eyebrows and sharp eyes. His hair is tied into a leather warrior crown. He wears a dark red brocade cloud pattern on his forehead. He wears a red and black plain arrow jacket, armadillo boots, and a quiver on his waist. The whole person is full of life.
He stood in the middle of the dusty school grounds with a stern look on his face. He held a hard blackwood bow in his left hand and drew an arrow from his waist with his right hand. The bowstring vibrated and the arrow hit a grass target a hundred meters away like a meteor. The sergeants in the field burst into cheers and cheers.
She had just arrived in the border town and was busy with military affairs all day long. Only that afternoon, she stood outside and watched for a long time. When the sun set and the sunset glowed on everyone, the seventh prince suddenly looked in her direction, raised a smile and showed With bright white teeth, he turned around and took up his bow again under the setting sun, shooting three arrows in a row, hitting the target every time, and the school grounds cheered even louder.
He is a young man wearing bright clothes and an angry horse.
Xia Yunhe pulled away from his memories and wiped his eyes, "Your Highness, please forgive me. It was a disgrace."
She thought for a while, then put down a poem on the paper.
I hope you will have wings and become a northern sea fish.
Xie Yi lowered his head to stare at the well-proportioned font and murmured, "I'm really happy."
He was really happy when he saw the ten thousand year old man right in front of him.
